The title at the head of the page is "strength/flexibility/health/EDS”. (EDS stands for Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome.) The subtitle reads “COLLOIDAL SILVER HEALER - HOW MUCH CAN IT REALLY HELP?”

My friend was concerned that the person who referred her to it and others who saw it might be persuaded to take silver internally and develop argyria, skin discolored by silver, like I have.

I went to the site expecting to be able to post a comment but didn’t find a place where I could, so I decided to do a blog entry on it instead, in the hopes that those reading the promo site might stumble across my remarks.

My first observation was that the site seems strange beginning with the statement, “THIS IS A SPONSORED POST. I HAVE BEEN COMPENSATED THROUGH THE CHRONIC ILLNESS BLOGGERS NETWORK. ALL OPINIONS REMAIN MY OWN, AND I WAS IN NO WAY INFLUENCED BY THE COMPANY.” Really?

Then at the bottom of the page there is a picture of a pretty young blonde woman. The caption above her photo says “about the author” Under the picture you find a long list of job titles which I assume are supposed to be the things she does for a living, like “speaker”, “author”, “health educator”, but if her name is posted anywhere, I didn’t find it so there is no way to verify what she says about herself.

A note at the end of the article reads, “Disclaimer: The views, opinions, and recommendations in this article are of the author and the author alone. Statements expressed are not to be misconstrued as medical advice or as a ‘treatment’ for EDS or its related conditions. You are responsible for your health and safety when trialing a new product. Strength/Flexibility/Health/EDS, its owner, the author of this article, and its affiliates assume no liability for the consumption of any of the products mentioned in this article. Reading this article means that you agree to the terms of use and this disclaimer.”

That sounds to me as if the author, whoever that may be, and the site owner want to make sure that anyone they persuade to “trail” silver and consume it who turns blue or gray won’t have legal grounds to sue them.

The product being advertised is a gadget from a company named Honey Colony that the company calls a Colloidal Silver Healer. It is a device that uses electricity to release silver into water for people to drink and apply topically. The gizmo sells for $290, marked down from $350. The company claims that the silver solution made with the Healer produces “one of the most powerful natural antibiotics in existence,” and while it promotes its internal as well as external use, the blogger states that, “I’ve never used silver containing products for other personal applications outside of the hospital or for wound healing.” Since people with EDS have fragile skin, she is urging them to direct their doctors to only apply wound dressings on them after surgery that contain silver.

Then she provides a link to the wikipedia article on the medical uses of silver.

If you have serious wounds or surgery, your doctor will know how best to treat them. That’s his job. He is trained for it and experienced with it. Follow his advice. He wants you to heal quickly without complications. And never take silver in any form or amount internally. It doesn’t work as an antibiotic. We know that because desperate doctors and patients tried to cure infections with it before the advent of antibiotics but were never able to do so. Neither could they do so with anything else because there are no “natural” antibiotics. That is why infectious diseases were the scourge of humanity before scientists developed antibiotics starting in the 1930s.

What doctors and patients did learn about silver back then is that it is toxic. It can discolor your skin permanently turning it gray or blue. The condition is called argyria. I have had argyria for over 50 years and spent years investigating silver. All the objective evidence I’ve found clearly demonstrates that taking silver internally is all risk and no benefit. It can turn you permanently gray.